I spent four years as Forbes' Girl Friday, which to me meant doing a little bit of everything at once. As a member of the Forbes Entrepreneurs team, I looked at booming business and startup life with a female gaze. I worked on the PowerWomen Wealth and Celebrity 100 lists, keeping my ears pricked and pen poised for current event stories--from political sex scandals to celebrity gossip to international affairs. In 2012 I helped to put two South American women on the cover of FORBES Magazine: Modern Family star Sofia Vergara (the top-earning actress on U.S. television) and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who is transforming the BRIC nation into an entrepreneurial powerhouse. Prior to Forbes I was at the Philadelphia CityPaper, where I learned more than any girl ever needs to know about the city's seedier trades. I studied digital journalism at The University of The Arts.
I left Forbes in November, 2013, to pursue other interests on the West Coast.

700,000 New Retail Jobs For Holiday 2012: Here's Who's Hiring

Major retailers announced early numbers for holiday hiring jumps, adding what experts are calling an additional 700,000 temporary jobs to the economy for the third quarter of 2012, a slight uptick from holiday hiring last year.

Macy’s will hire 80,000 seasonal retail employees according to a report out Monday, a 1.2% increase from 2011. Kohl’s, Wal-Mart and Toys R Us are also expected to bring on more people for the holiday—each company will see a roughly 10% increase in hiring this month. Target is the only of the major retailers so see a decrease in hiring over 2011 numbers; last year 92,000 seasonal employees were brought in while 2012 estimates are between 80,000 and 90,000 new hires. Best Buy‘s hiring is also down, but that seems par for the course at the struggling retailer.

Last year retail payrolls saw a non-seasonally adjusted gain of 660,200 workers from October through December, just a 1.9% increase over the previous year when employment jumped 647,000 workers during the holiday shopping season. John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which published its annual holiday hiring outlook last week says the continued positive growth in hiring shows a cautiously optimistic confidence in consumer spending. Slight increases are notable, he says, but we still haven’t returned to pre-recession levels. Between 2004 and 2007 the average number of temporary holiday positions was 722,000.

“The economy has continued its slow recovery,” Challenger says, pointing to a few significant trends that could lead to more spending power this season… and more people earning paychecks behind cash registers. “1.8 million more Americans are at work this year than last, which means more discretionary income,” he says, “But maybe more importantly people are also slowly digging themselves out of the debt hole after the recession, freeing up resources for a return to spending.”

It’s a loosening of the belt for American consumers, he says, “But just one notch, not three. This kind of cautious growth is reassuring to see considering the trouble consumers got themselves into spending in recent years.” The National Retail Federation said Tuesday that it expects sales during the winter holiday shopping period in November and December to rise a modest 4.1 percent this year.

The retail sector has traditionally been, and still is, an accessible route into employment for women, particularly for those who’ve off-ramped either as a result of motherhood or recession-related layoffs. Women currently account for 50.1% of the total retail workforce, a number that jumps in clothing and clothing accessory stores, where they make up more than 72% of workers. Retail workers point to flexible schedules, off-peak hours and overtime compensation among its many attractive incentives to time-pressed mothers. A median hourly wage of $10.10 doesn’t hurt either.

Challenger, whose firm specializes in employment opportunities for laid-off executives says that while not everyone interested in holiday retail positions is looking for full-time work (many Americans take on a retail job around the holidays for extra cash or discounts), the possibilities of parlaying a seasonal gig into a career isn’t all that far-fetched. “Last year Target retained 30% of the seasonal workers it hired, which makes it an even more desirable prospect,” he says.My colleague Jacquelyn Smith recently wrote up some great tips on turning a temp position into full time work.

More and more employers are looking at temporary positions as auditions for full-time employees, Challenger says. “Even outside of the retail sector this has become the norm. They’ll bring on an employee on a part-time or project basis and use these periods to evaluate potential hires to see if they’re good workers and the right fit for the full-time team.”

Challenger says that those interested in seasonal or holiday retail positions should begin the application process right away, as these coveted positions tend to fill quickly. But hiring isn’t just limited to brick and mortar retailers. “Amazon announced plans to add 5,000 seasonal workers at its distribution facilities,” Challenger said, adding that he also expects to see significant upticks in hiring at UPS and FedEx which typically add extra workers to handle increases in holiday shipping.

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